Did any part of the Atonement take place in the Garden of Gethsemane?
The LDS Bible Dictionary give the following definition for the Atonement of
Christ,
"By his selection and foreordination in the Grand Council before the world
was formed, his divine Sonship, his sinless life,
the shedding of his blood in the garden of Gethsemane,
his death on the cross and subsequent bodily resurrection
from the grave, he made a perfect atonement for all mankind."
(D&C 19:16–18)
“Behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not
suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must
suffer even as I; which suffering caused myself, even God, the
greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore,
and to suffer both body and spirit”
According to these statements, Christ's bleeding from every pore in the garden of
Gethsemane was part of the Atonement
Is it possible that any part of the Atonement took place in Gethsemane?
No! It is impossible for the Atonement to take place in the
Gethsemane. The Atonement no more took place in the garden of
Gethsemane than it did when he was being tortured. Christ did
make a great sacrifice, and was brutally tortured, however the Bible is very
clear that the penalty
for sin is "Death". Christ died on the Cross, nowhere else.
Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death;"
Genesis 2:16-17
"And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat
of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
Romans 5:12
"Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned:"
Ezekiel 18:4
"Behold, all souls
are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine:
the soul that sinneth, it shall die."
When Christ left the garden of Gethsemane, He was alive and well. The fact that Christ sweated blood in the Garden, does not matter
at all. Sweating blood is not the required payment for sin, death is.
The Bible does not say, go sweat blood, and sin will be covered. If that
were the case, than there was no reason to kill all of those bulls and goats as
a payment for sin. When Christ died it was his death that paid for Sin.
He was the perfect sacrifice.
In addition, the resurrection was not part of the atonement either.
Christ's resurrection provides us the hope that we too will rise again, but it
does not pay for sin.
This is why it says in 1 Corinthians 1:17-18
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. "